Hydraulic cleaner for doors and the like

ABSTRACT

Hydraulic cleaning apparatus for cleaning oven doors and door jambs and having hoist means, adapted to move around the surfaces to be cleaned, and including water jet nozzle means mounted on the hoist means and oriented to direct high pressure sprays onto the surfaces to be cleaned, from different angles, and flexible hose connection means connecting the nozzle means to a suitable source of water being pumped by a high pressure, high volume pumping system, and being directed by the nozzles onto the sealing surfaces of the door jamb whereby to effectively remove deposits therefrom without damage to the sealing surfaces.

United States Patent [191 Miko [ 1 HYDRAULIC CLEANER FOR DOORS AND THE LIKE [75] Inventor: Stephen John Miko, Toronto,

Canada [73] Assignee: Industrial High Pressure Systems lnc., Gravenhurst, Canada 221 Filed: July 2,1973 21 App1.No.:375,951

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 11, 1972 Canada 149195 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,254,848 9/1941 Holveck 134/168 R X 2,302,299 11/1942 Court 202/241 X Voorhees Wright et 1 July 1,1975

Primary Examiner-Daniel Blum [57] ABSTRACT Hydraulic cleaning apparatus for cleaning oven doors and door jambs and having hoist means, adapted to move around the surfaces to be cleaned, and including water jet nozzle means mounted on the hoist means and oriented to direct high pressure sprays onto the surfaces to be cleaned, from different angles, and flexible hose connection means connecting the nozzle means to a suitable source of water being pumped by a high pressure, high volume pumping system, and being directed by the nozzles onto the sealing surfaces of the door jamb whereby to effectively remove deposits therefrom without damage to the sealing surfaces.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEMUU SHEET FIGJ PATENTEHJULI ms "*L 892,250

SHEET 2 HYDRAULIC CLEANER FOR DOORS AND THE LIKE The present invention relates to a hydraulic door cleaner for the cleaning of doors, and door jambs, such as are used in industrial ovens for coke and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The sealing of oven doors in this type of industrial oven is of considerable importance to the satisfactory and efficient operation of the oven. During each cycle of use, however, the oven door, and doorjarnb become encrusted with hardened deposits of carbon, and other matter, and these deposits must be removed each time the oven is emptied and recharged since otherwise the door will not seal.

In the past, these deposits have been removed by abrasive means or by scrapers. These scrapers have been operated mechanically on a drive means which was adapted to drive the scraper around the sealing surface of the door, and the door jamb until the deposits were removed.

This procedure was unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. In the first place, it was necessary that considerable pressure be applied by the scrapers so as to effectively remove all of the deposits. Such pressure, of course, resulted in a fairly high rate of wear of the scraper and driver gear, and as a result the repeated cleaning of the doors and door jambs by the scrapers resulted in them being worn away to such an extent that they would not clean and required frequent replacement. This resulted in a requirement for relatively frequent repairs and servicing, with consequent loss of production due to the down time of the ovens.

Poor sealing also caused loss of quality in the end product which must usually be heated in an entirely sealed, closed chamber for best results.

In addition, lack of cleaning at the sealing surfaces causes substantial environmental pollution and constitutes a hazard to workmen in the area.

Because of the poor seal, pollutant gases (eg. sulphur dioxide) are allowed to escape into the atmosphere. With approximately 120 doors per battery in an installation having 8 coke oven batteries, a substantial volume of polluting gases are entering the atmosphere on each cycle of operations.

For these reasons, it is desirable to provide an alter nate mode of cleaning the oven doors and door jambs without damaging them, while yet providing a surface completely free of any deposits, and capable of making a good seal, after each recharge of the oven, and without a requirement for repeated servicing and replacement.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore, the main objective of the invention to provide hydraulic cleaning apparatus for cleaning oven doors and door jambs and having hoist means moveable around the surfaces to be cleaned, including water jet nozzle means mounted on said hoist means and oriented to direct high pressure sprays from different angles onto said surfaces to be cleaned. The apparatus has a high volume pumping system. Preferably although not exclusively there will be two hoist means, one for the door and one for the jamb, and a set of nozzle means for each hoist means so that both the door and jamb can be cleaned.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a cleaning apparatus in which the jet nozzles are arranged and oriented to direct waterjets in two different directions simultaneously for cleaning two adjoining divergent surfaces.

More particularly, it is an objective of the invention to provide apparatus having the foregoing advantages incorporating continuous track means, and power operated drive means, for driving said member around said track means.

More particularly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide apparatus having the foregoing advantages, and including tank means for said hydraulic fluid, main pumping means for pumping said hydraulic fluid as aforesaid, conduit means for communication between said pumping means and said nozzle means, and drain conduit means for draining said first mentioned conduit means.

The foregoing and other advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is given here by way of example only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the door cleaning apparatus according to the invention, and showing the door itself in phantom;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and showing the door in solid lines, and also showing the location of the oven;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a section along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 3, showing the details of the apparatus as applied to the cleaning of the door jambs;

FIG. 5 is a partially cut away perspective illustration of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 for cleaning the door jambs,

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective illustration of the cleaning head portion of the apparatus used for cleaning the door surfaces, and,

FIG. 7 is a perspective illustration of an alternate embodiment. shown on the same sheet as FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be understood that the cleaning apparatus according to the invention forms a part of an overall installation of industrial ovens, in which coke or other raw material is subjected to heat treatment, and as is the practice in this type of installation, the ovens are arranged in a battery, and provided with a mobile mechanism for discharging the contents of the ovens and recharging them.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, the battery of ovens is shown as B, and each of the ovens is shown as 10, the ovens 10 being arranged parallel and side by side with one another. The ovens are discharged by means of a mobile apparatus shown and referred to generally as C, the details of which are omitted for the sake of clarity, but which will incorporate suitable mechanism for grasping and removing a door 11 of an oven 10, and will further incorporate suitable mechanism for discharging the contents of the oven I0, readying it for a fresh charge of raw material,

These features of the apparatus are conventional and known in the an, and therefore form no part of the applicants invention. However, for the sake of explanation only, it will of course be understood that the discharging apparatus C is moveable on wheels W, adapted to run on rails (not shown) or the like from side to side so as to traverse the face of the battery B of the ovens so that the apparatus can be aligned with any one of the ovens as desired. The apparatus for grasping and removing a door 11 is shown as R, and as shown in FIG. 2, is adapted to grasp a door 11 when located in position in an oven 10, and withdraw it there from and swing it approximately 90 to one side for cleaning, and also holding the same out of position during discharging of the oven I0. The details of the discharging apparatus as such are omitted for the sake of clarity.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning apparatus according to the invention is formed in two cleaning units or as semblies indicated generally as the door cleaning unit 12, and the door jamb cleaning unit 13. Both cleaning units 12 and 13 incorporate essentially the same basic features, and accordingly only one of such cleaning units will be described in detail, although it will be understood that the other cleaning unit while being essentially the same may incorporate a variety of detail changes, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 3, it will be noted that this illustration shows a rear elevational view representing a cleaning unit 12 or 13, although as stated it will be understood that the cleaning units 12 and 13 while being essentially the same, will incorporate detail differences Thus, the cleaning unit will be seen to comprise an endless channel shaped track member 14 arranged in a generally rectangular pattern with rounded corners. The track 14 will preferably be formed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, being open at its front, and closed in the rear. Within the track 14 a pair of roller carriage members 15 are provided, which are adapted to run within the track 14 up and down either side thereof, and to run around the corners. Mounted on the carriage members 15, by means of the mounting rods I6 are the hydraulic discharge heads shown generally as D.

It will be understood that the discharge heads are only shown generally in FIG. 3 as the reference D, and will in fact differ depending upon whether they are forming part of the door cleaning unit 12, or the door jamb cleaning unit 13, and such differences are shown in greater detail herein.

In order to move discharge heads D up and down the track 14, a flexible drive in this case a chain drive 17 is provided. The chain 17 is arranged to run around suitable idlers 18 arranged at the four corners of the track 14, and is driven by a sprocket 19 mounted on a drive shaft 20 which is in turn driven through a gear box 2I by a suitable motor 22. Preferably. the motor 22 is reversible whereby to permit the chain 17 to be driven so as to cause movement of the roller carriage members 15 along approximately one half of the total length of the track 14, and then to run backwardly again.

The chain drive 17 is attached to the discharge heads D by means of connecting pins 23 whereby movement of the chain drive will procure corresponding movement of the discharge heads D, i.e. respectively upwardly and downwardly on opposite sides of the track 14, depending upon which way the chain drive 17 is driven by the motor 22.

In order to connect the discharge heads D to a suit able source of hydraulic fluid, the conduits 24 extend rearwardly from the discharge heads D, and they are in turn connected to the flexible pressure hoses 25, thereby permitting free movement of the discharge heads D as described above.

The flexible hoses 25 are themselves connected through a T-junction to a conduit 26 to a point adjacent the top of the track 14. At this point, a further flexible hose 27 is provided connecting to a fixed conduit 28 which is suitably supported on an upper framework of the mechanism C as shown in FIG. I.

In this way, the entire cleaning units [2 and 13 may be made moveable relative to the mechanism C upon which they are carried. It will of course be understood that the various details of such a movement mechanism are omitted for the sake of clarity but may consist of hydraulic cylinders, or mechanical movement means, or any other suitable means whereby the same may be moved relative to the mechanism C for positioning relative to the door 11 and the oven 10.

As stated above. the two cleaning units, in so far as they have been described above, are the same, except for their dimensions, the cleaning unit for the door being somewhat bigger than the cleaning unit for the door jamb, since obviously the cleaning unit for the door must be capable of fitting around the divergent adjoining sealing surfaces of the door whereas the cleaning unit for the door jamb must be capable of fitting within the divergent adjoining sealing surfaces around the door opening. (See FIG. 5)

However, the two cleaning units do differ significantly in the construction and arrangement of the discharge heads D themselves. Thus referring in more detail to FIGv 5 it will be noted that FIG. 5 shows the discharge head D for cleaning the door jamb shown in fragmentary form as 10a. The discharge head D in this case consists of a generally L-shaped block member 30 having two arms 31 and 32 at right angles to one another. Water jets 33 are mounted in the two arms 31 and 32 so as to direct jets of water along axes at right angles to one another, whereby to effectively clean two adjoining surfaces of the door jamb 10a. The block member 30 is formed with the interior drillings (not shown) communicating between the conduit 24 and the jets 33 for communicating water thereto.

Referring in more detail to FIG. 6, the discharge head D shown is FIG. 6 is arranged and constructed for cleaning the sealing surfaces of the door 11, which is again shown in fragmentary form in FIG. 6. In this case, the discharge head D will be seen to consist of a block member 35 having an upwardly extending rectangular portion 36, and a side ridge member 37 having a front face 38 at an angle of about between 30 and 60 to the front face 39 of the rectangular block member 36. Discharge nozzles 40 are arranged on respective faces 38 and 39, whereby to direct jets of water along axes at relative angles to one another and thereby effectively clean adjoining surfaces of the door 11 as shown.

In order to supply high pressure, high volume water to the conduit 2.8, any suitable pumping means can be provided, preferably of the full flow recycling type wherein the pump itself can be maintained at full power, and which provides on/off control for flow of water to the conduit 28 by means ofa return flow pipe whereby water may be recycled through the pump, when it is not required at the discharge heads D.

Obviously, various different forms of apparatus can provide such a result, one such apparatus being that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and comprising the pump having a pump outlet conduit 51 and a pump inlet conduit 52. The outlet conduit 51 is connected directly to the conduit 28 connected to the discharge head D. The inlet conduit 52 is connected to the tank 53 which is in turn supplied with mains water through conduit 54.

In order to recycle water from the pump 50, the return branch conduit 55 is provided, connected between the pump outlet conduit 51 and the tank 53. Flow of water is controlled by means of the two-way valve 56 in the pump outlet conduit SI, and a second two-way valve 57 mounted in the branch conduit 55. Conduits 56 and 57 are operated and controlled by electrical means such as solenoids 58 and 59 respectively whereby the spraying action at the discharge heads D may be turned on and shut off by remote control, without affecting operation of the pump.

In order to control flow of water selectively either to the door cleaning unit 12 or the door jamb cleaning unit 13 further solenoid valves 60 and 61 are provided operated by solenoids 62 and 63.

In order to drain the system after use, an additional bypass conduit 64 is provided between conduits 51 and 55 and is fitted with a further solenoid valve 65 and solenoid 66.

In operation the mechanism C is moved into alignment with one of the ovens l0, and the door removal mechanism R is operated so as to grasp door 11 withdraw it and swing it to one side into the position as shown in FIG. 2.

When in this position, it will be located relative to the door cleaning unit 12, more or less as shown in FIG. 6. The operator will then operate the solenoid valves 56, 57, 60 and 61 so as to cause delivery of water to the discharge head D of the cleaning unit 12, and water will then be discharged through the nozzles 40 at sufficient velocity and volumetric flow capacity to effectively clean the surfaces of the door II, and remove hardened deposits of scale, carbon and like material which have built up during use. The operator simultaneously operates the motor 22, of the cleaning unit 12, thereby mov ing chain drive 17 in one direction and causing one of the discharge heads D to move upwardly relative to the door 1] and the other discharge head D to move downwardly, on respective sides of the door I I. As they continue movement, they will respectively reach top dead centre and bottom dead centre positions more or less as shown in FIG. I, after which if desired the operator can simply reverse the movement of motor 22 causing movement of the discharge heads D in the opposite direction, and can if desired continue such to and fro movement as long as he feels is necessary to effect complete cleaning operation.

Similarly, after removal of and cleaning the door 11 from the oven 10, the door jamb cleaning unit 13 is moved (by means not shown) forwardly into close juxtaposition with the door jamb 10] substantially as shown in FIG. 4 and again the operator, by operation of the solenoid valves 56. 57, 60 and 61 and the motor 22 of the door jamb cleaning unit 13, will procure discharge of water through the nozzles 33 and simultaneous movement of the discharge heads D upwardly and downwardly on opposite sides of the door jamb 10a, and can continue such movement as many times as desired.

Alternatively if there is only one set of controls for the flow of water, namely the valves 56 and 57, the two cleaning operations, ie the cleaning of the door I1 and the cleaning of the door jamb 10a may take place simultaneously since otherwise water will be ejected through both sets of nozzles 33 and 40 simultaneously, and one half of such water will thereby be wasted.

However, as stated this is not the practice of the presently preferred embodiment. although in some cases it is conceivable that such a modification might be acceptable.

Clearly, the invention is capable of a variety of changes and modifications to meet specific requirements for specific variations in different forms of ovens and doors, such modifications and changes being selfevident and dependent upon the specific requirements, and without changing the concept of the invention. It is thus possible that in some cases where the surface deposits are of a less serious nature it will be sufficient merely to clean the door surfaces and leave the door jamb surfaces alone.

Other means may be provided for moving the spray heads D.

Thus for example the mechanical hoist means may be replaced with any other suitable elevating mechanism such as a hydraulic system. In this case the spray heads D may be mounted as shown in FIG. 7 on a telescopic column having three or more interfitting tubular parts 710, 7 lb, 71c, operated by hydraulic means or the like within the column 70 (not shown). The spray heads D for the door jamb and door may both be mounted on the same column 70 and may be rotatably supported on separately rotatable housings 72, which may be controllably rotatable by means such as synchronous electric motors (not shown) located within the housings 72.

Heads D are supplied by the hose 73 and controlled by valve mechanism (not shown) similar to that described above, for selective operation of the spray heads within central housing 74. In operation the column 70 would extend and retract in a vertical direction, with the spray heads D positioned horizontally, to clean the vertical surfaces. At the upper and lower ends the spray heads D are swung vertically so as to cover the horizontal end surfaces.

The foregoing description ofa preferred embodiment of the invention is given here by way of example only with reference to the drawings herein. It is not intended that the invention shall be limited to any of the specific features as described or shown, but comprehends all such variations as come within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

I. Apparatus for cleaning divergent adjoining surfaces of doors, door jambs and the like, such as doors and door jambs for ovens and the like and adapted to be mounted on movable support means for moving from place to place whereby to align said apparatus for use on a particular location said apparatus comprising;

hoist means vertically movable in registration with a said door or door jamb between upper and lower positions, whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said door or door jamb;

water jet nozzle means mounted on said hoist means and oriented to direct the jets emitted therefrom onto said divergent surfaces and moving in unison with said hoist means whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said divergent surfaces of a said door or door jamb during said upward and downward movement of said hoist apparatus, said jet nozzle means including at least two jet nozzles mounted and oriented in different directions so as to direct jets simultaneously in two directions onto at least two said divergent surfaces; means for traversing said nozzle means from side to side across said door or door jamb, adjacent the upper and lower limits thereon whereby to effectively traverse the horizontal extent of said divergent surfaces, and,

pump means, connected to said nozzle means at least in part by movable hose connection means.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim I wherein said pump is of the recirculating type, and including bypass duct means between the outlet of said pump, and valve means selectively operable to direct the output of said pump either to said nozzle means or through said bypass duct means.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hoist apparatus comprises a vertical track means, and wherein said traversing means includes horizontal track means, said vertical and horizontal track means being formed into a generally rectangular continuous track, and

carriage means arranged to run in said track, said nozzle means being mounted on said carriage means.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3 including two said nozzle means, one mounted on one side of said track and the other on the other side of said track, and including drive means connecting said nozzle means together for movement in unison with one another on opposite sides of said track in opposite directions whereby when one said nozzle means is moving upwardly, the other said nozzle means is moving downwardly, and including power operated means for driving said nozzle means as aforesaid.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 including rigid conduit means connecting between said pump and a point adjacent said track, and two flexible hose members connected to said conduit at said fixed point, and connecting to said two nozzle means, whereby to permit the same to move around said track as aforesaid.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim I wherein said hoist means is operated mechanically.

7. Apparatus for cleaning adjoining sealing surfaces of doors, door jambs and the like, such as doors and door jambs for ovens and the like. said apparatus comprising;

two hoist means, one for a said door and the other for a said door jamb, vertically movable in registration with a said door or door jamb between upper and lower positions, whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said door or door jamb;

a water jet nozzle set mounted on each respective said hoist means, one set being oriented to direct the jets emitted therefrom onto said surfaces of said door and the other set being oriented to direct jets emitted therefrom onto said surfaces of said door jamb, each said set being selectively moveable in unison with respective said hoist means whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said surfaces ofa said door or door jamb during said upward and downward movement of said hoist apparatus, each said jet nozzle set including at least two jet nozzles mounted and oriented in different directions so as to direct jets simultaneously in two directions onto at least two said surfaces;

means for traversing each said nozzle set from side to side across said door or door jamb, adjacent the upper and lower limits thereon whereby to effectively traverse the horizontal extent of said surfaces;

pump means, connected to said nozzle sets at least in part by moveable hose connection means;

conduit means connecting between said nozzle sets and said pump means, and,

valve means selectively operable for delivery of water jets from either said one set or said other set.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, including means supporting one set substantially at right angles to said other set.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein one said hoist means is located in one plane and the other said hoist means is located in a plane substantially normalthereto. 

1. Apparatus for cleaning divergent adjoining surfaces of doors, door jambs and the like, such as doors and door jambs for ovens and the like and adapted to be mounted on movable support means for moving from place to place whereby to align said apparatus for use on a particular location said apparatus comprising; hoist means vertically movable in registration with a said door or door jamb between upper and lower positions, whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said door or door jamb; water jet nozzle means mounted on said hoist means and oriented to direct the jets emitted therefrom onto said divergent surfaces and moving in unison with said hoist means whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said divergent surfaces of a said door or door jamb during said upward and downward movement of said hoist apparatus, said jet nozzle means including at least two jet nozzles mounted and oriented in different directions so as to direct jets simultaneously in two directions onto at least two said divergent surfaces; means for traversing said nozzle means from side to side across said door or door jamb, adjacent the upper and lower limits thereon whereby to effectively traverse the horizontal extent of said divergent surfaces, and, pump means, connected to said nozzle means at least in part by movable hose connection means.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pump is of the recirculating type, and including bypass duct means between the outlet of said pump, and valve means selectively operable to direct the output of said pump either to said nozzle means or through said bypass duct means.
 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hoist apparatus comprises a vertical track means, and wherein said traversing means includes horizontal track means, said vertical and horizontal track means being formed into a generally rectangular continuous track, and carriage means arranged to run in said track, said nozzle means being mounted on said carriage means.
 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3 including two said nozzle means, one mounted on one side of said track and the other on the other side of said track, and including drive means connecting said nozzle means together for movement in unison with one another on opposite sides of said track in opposite directions whereby when one said nozzle means is moving upwardly, the other said nozzle means is moving downwardly, and including power operated means for driving said nozzle means as aforesaid.
 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 including rigid conduit means connecting between said pump and a point adjacent said track, and two flexible hose members connected to said conduit at said fixed point, and connecting to said two nozzle means, whereby to permit the same to move around said track as aforesaid.
 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hoist means is operated mechanically.
 7. Apparatus for cleaning adjoining sealing surfaces of doors, door jambs and the like, such as doors and door jambs for ovens and the like, said apparatus comprising; two hoist means, one for a said door and the other for a said door jamb, vertically movable in registration with a said door or door jamb between upper and lower positions, whereby to eFfectively traverse the vertical extent of said door or door jamb; a water jet nozzle set mounted on each respective said hoist means, one set being oriented to direct the jets emitted therefrom onto said surfaces of said door and the other set being oriented to direct jets emitted therefrom onto said surfaces of said door jamb, each said set being selectively moveable in unison with respective said hoist means whereby to effectively traverse the vertical extent of said surfaces of a said door or door jamb during said upward and downward movement of said hoist apparatus, each said jet nozzle set including at least two jet nozzles mounted and oriented in different directions so as to direct jets simultaneously in two directions onto at least two said surfaces; means for traversing each said nozzle set from side to side across said door or door jamb, adjacent the upper and lower limits thereon whereby to effectively traverse the horizontal extent of said surfaces; pump means, connected to said nozzle sets at least in part by moveable hose connection means; conduit means connecting between said nozzle sets and said pump means, and, valve means selectively operable for delivery of water jets from either said one set or said other set.
 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, including means supporting one set substantially at right angles to said other set.
 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein one said hoist means is located in one plane and the other said hoist means is located in a plane substantially normal thereto. 